The 8 man rotation, the hack a Roberson strategy, the great out of time out execution. It feels good to go into games knowing your coach doesn't put you at an automatic disadvantage. I was a little skeptical of the hire at first as most were, but I'm glad to say I was wrong. Here's to Mike D'Antoni the 2017 NBA Coach of the Year!
Can we call it the Hackerson strategy? As for D"Antoni, there is something missing about him if he can't figure out how to have better first quarters....not just tactically, or starters, but really, it's the motivation and preparation aspect of coaching, everything about player management.
I'm happy to be wrong as well. Initially I wasn't thrilled with the signing and didn't see the payoff. But man... D'antoni has been amazing this year. He leads the league in scoring plays out of a timeout, his rotations have been perfect, and when we're struggling I don't ever feel like we're out of the game. No offense to McHale or JB, but it's definitely night and day. Granted it's still early in the playoffs, but boy do we have a coach.
Rockets would have lost yesterday if they don't Hack-a-Roberson or properly sub out Capela/Ryno for Nene/Lou early in the 3rd quarter
I'll admit that the way we've been starting games has been a concern, but we sure as hell execute in the 4th when we have to.
Take the good with the bad, but D'Antoni's strategy on late game inbound passing is terrible. Game 2, Harden is suffocated in the backcourt, bad pass leads to turnover and Westbrook 3-pointer, even though Rockets had 3 timeouts. Game 4, Harden can't get open so he blatant pushes off, almost stolen by Westbrook. I don't like the way D'Antoni is free wheeling at the end of games. He should sit down with the team and design specific plays to get safe high percentage inbound passes. It's fundamentals that win championships.
No sh** sherlock! Makes a WORLD of difference to have someone competent enough to run team sets. Or would you prefer this? Spoiler
that sounds more like poor player execution than lack of a competent coaching strategy to me. unless you think MDA is simply a great coach at almost every other aspect but somehow inbound passing strategy simply alludes him. what do you think is most likely?
I agree. yesterday even moreso because I think the Rockets had 3 timeouts left. That's a spot where you call a timeout... well, at least after a second or two where its clear you're not catching them off guard.
